CREDIT REPORTING REQUIREMENTS

The Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) requires that when a consumer sends a dispute to a credit bureau it is supposed to forward that dispute to the creditor reporting the inaccurate or incomplete information. The credit bureau must give the creditor all relevant information related to the dispute. The creditor must then review the information and conduct an investigation into whether the report is accurate. If the creditor determines the disputed information is inaccurate it must correct the description of the account (called a "tradeline").

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), the governmental watchdog over credit reporting, recently issued reminders to creditors about their obligations under the FCRA. The CFPB said it expects creditors to (1) maintain a system capable of receiving information about disputes, (2) conduct investigations using all information forwarded to them by the credit bureaus and their own information, (3) report the results of the investigation back to the credit bureau, (4) provide corrected information to all of the credit bureaus, and (5) modify, delete or permanently block incomplete or inaccurate information that a creditor might have provided to the credit bureaus. The CFPB said it is monitoring complaints from consumers and will bring enforcement actions when necessary. If your credit reports are showing inaccurate information about your debts contact us to talk about what response to take. Pursuing violations of the FCRA requires that specific steps be followed before relief can be sought in court. We can help walk you through what to do and advise whether legal action is warranted.

MODIFYING A CHAPTER 13 PLAN

Clients considering a Chapter 13 bankruptcy are often afraid they'll be stuck in a payment plan they can't afford if something changes during the plan period. As I often tell clients, life doesn't stop just because someone files Chapter 13 bankruptcy so the chances of some unforeseen circumstance disrupting their income are good. Although some clients go the entire 3-5 years without needing a plan modification, more often then not, something will happen that requires a change in the plan payment. Job loss, car repairs, home repairs, medical bills, tax debt. All of these and more might require that a plan be modified to address a borrower's new budget. To modify a plan a motion must be filed with the court explaining why the modification is needed and what the new payment plan is to be. The process for obtaining approval of a modified Chapter 13 plan generally takes at least 45 days so plan modifications can't be done quickly to reflect month-to-month changes in a borrower's budget. But if change in the plan payment is necessary, borrowers can be confident they won't have to continue making a payment they can't afford. If you're in a Chapter 13 plan currently and are anticipating some change that will make you unable to make your plan payment contact us as soon as possible so we can propose the necessary modification.